TAP Portugal A330neo Business Class
Hey everyone!
I’m excited to revive this site sharing some content from my recent trip to Europe. Over two weeks, a friend and I traveled through Portugal, the UK, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. To kick off the journey, we flew TAP Portugal’s new A330-900neo from Chicago (ORD) to Lisbon (LIS).
My trek to Lisbon began in Madison, WI. After a two hour drive, we arrived at Chicago O’Hare around 7:30pm, with our flight departing at 10:15pm. This proved more than enough time, despite it being a Saturday night. I breezed through check-in and security, thanks to TSA Precheck, in less than 15 minutes. The gate area was a little crowded, particularly given this was a 10:15pm flight.
I had booked this flight in economy, at a bargain ~$430 round trip from ORD-LIS. However, earlier in the day, TAP informed me of their delightfully unique upgrade auction. Typically, it’s not unusual for airlines to offer discounted opportunities to upgrade within a short window before departure. However, those upgrades are typically offered at a fixed rate, irrespective of demand.
TAP, on the other hand, partnered with SeatBoost to auction off remaining ‘Executive Class’ with the continuous bidding window open from 24 hours before departure to the boarding time. Two hours before the flight I decided to take a shot, starting at the minimum bid, which I recall being $250. There was no action in the auction until roughly 20 minutes before the flight. Two other passengers bid, which escalated to a near instantaneous competitive process in the minutes before boarding. At auction close, we could enter a final bid number to win the auction. Prior to the final bid, the price had risen to just over $300. Still recognizing the massive deal, I made a final bid of $320 - and won!
Interestingly, multiple passengers ‘won’ the auction. As I went up to the boarding desk to claim my new boarding pass, another passenger was doing the same next to me. The gate agent mentioned to me '“People have been winning all day!” While I found this a bit fishy, I was blinded by my excitement for the steal upgrade. In total, my 8 hour business class seat cost a grand total of $563.34, including my original fare. Particulaly compared to the $2-3,000 I would have been charged to fly a US carrier on the same route, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity. Extremely high value.
Boarding began quite promptly at 9:35. Interestingly, prior to the commencement of boarding, boarding desk staff made multiple announcements requiring all passengers with mobile boarding passes to come receive physical boarding passes at the desk. The gate agent claimed physical boarding passes were required to facilitate boarding with the automated gate system. The same request was made when we flew Ryanair from Lisbon to London Stanstead a few days into the trip, so my inclination is that it’s due to specific regulations regarding flights to/from Portugal or non-EU passengers. Either way, it was my first time encountering that policy, which only proved to be a minor inconvenience.
Upon boarding, I was guided to my seat, 6H, a window on the right side of the aircraft. TAP Portugal’s seats all have direct aisle access, laid out in a 1-2-1 configuration. The cabin felt very cozy, with wood seat paneling and TAP’s signature lime green accents. The seat was very spacious, with a rather comfortably sized footwell and plenty of counter space. The seat itself was wide and quite comfortable, with easy-to-use seat controls above the right armrest.
My seat, 6H, in the forward business cabin.
Behind my right shoulder, a sizeable cabinet held all the standard seat essentials; A pair of noise-cancelling headphones, a colorful TAP amenity kit, and two full-size bottles of water, in addition to the standard safety cards and air sickness bag.
As minute of a detail as it is, I found the two bottles of water rather generous, as other business class flights I’ve taken have either offered no bottle of water or one. Even though you could presumably always ask for water, particularly on overnight flights, it’s great to have water already at your seat when you wake up dehydrated, rather than to have to ask. It’s the little things that make all the difference! Further waiting at my seat was a large, colorful pillow (which was surprisingly comfortable) and a mid-weight blanket.
The seat position and lighting controls were contained in the side of the wooden console, featuring pre-programmed buttons for dining and sleep, in addition to individual seat component controls. To the right of the cabinet, a responsive multimedia remote could be used to control the IFE, should you not want to rely on the touchscreen. The IFE screen was acceptably large and the touchscreen was rather responsive.
In terms of content, I was pleasantly surprised at the wide variety of movies and TV shows TAP offered. Often, entertainment on non-US airlines can be spotty. However, TAP offered hundreds of English movies and TV shows, including so many of my favorites and the entire Harry Potter movie collection, along with countless other new releases and classics. TAP’s entertainment offering which could easily go head-to-head with United and other American carriers, and I was certainly impressed.
Generally, my only qualms with the seat were the awkward angle of the IFE screen when stowed, as well as the lack of fixed storage space. During takeoff, climb, landing and taxi, the screen must be stored in its fixed resting position, which sat at roughly a 45 degree angle facing toward the aisle. Hence they were not pleasant to use during these periods of the flight. While obviously this encompasses only a fraction of the duration of the flight, I found it a bit frustrating nonetheless. Further, I thought the cabinet and seat-side storage well were acceptable, but could imagine they may be a bit lackluster should I have wanted to keep a laptop/iPad or more personal items out during the flight.
The menu for tonight’s flight was also waiting for me on the arm table. Despite this being a 10:15 flight, TAP still offered a full three-course dinner service, as well as a breakfast service before landing. More on the food and beverage service to come.
Boarding completed at approximately 9:50, and we pushed back from the gate roughly 15 minutes later. After a short taxi, we took off right on time at 10:15. The climb offered beautiful nighttime views of Chicago off the right-hand side of the aircraft, although I struggled to get a good picture. After 20-or-so minutes, we climbed above 10,000 feet and the cabin crew began service.
My flight attendant on this flight, Tiago, was absolutely fantastic. He began service by introducing himself and welcoming me, before taking my dinner and drink order. The starter on tonight’s flight was a veal tonnato and radish salad. For the main course, executive passengers could choose between a roasted beef dish, a salmon will dill sauce, or a ricotta and mascarpone ravioli. I personally opted for the ravioli, as I typically find beef and salmon both hit-or-miss in the air, and wanted to opt for something lighter to focus on getting to sleep. Our flight was scheduled to land just after noon, so I wanted to get all the sleep I could to try and enjoy a full day in Lisbon.
A drink menu was not provided, but Tiago was more than happy to walk me through all the options available on the beverage cart. I began the meal with an excellent glass of Portuguese red, in addition to the standard ice water and mixed nuts. The tray table was delightfully large, with a pivot feature which made it easy to both get in and out of the seat, as well as fix the table at a comfortable angle to watch TV while dining. I settled in to my seat and began ‘Argo,’ which I’ve seen but remains among my favorite movies.
Roughly 10 minutes after serving drinks and nuts, he returned with the appetizer and main course, along with an offering of a selection of breads. While a small detail, I loved the unique design of TAP’s butter dishes, and the classic engravings on glasses. Again, it’s the little things that count! Although the presentation of the ravioli may have left a little to be desired, it was absolutely delicious. I’ve had ravioli on other airlines, but have occasionally found it and other pasta dishes quite plain. However, this ravioli was quite elevated, with an excellent spice to the sauce and fresh pumpkin which elevated the dish. The appetizer was also quite good, with the veal cooked tenderly and the radish complimenting the tonnato quite well. Ultimately, I was thoroughly impressed with the meal, especially considering the cost of the ticket. Tiago was quite attentive, and proactively offered me a fresh glass of wine when he saw mine was empty.
For desert, a trio of cheeses, fresh fruits, and ice cream was offered. I loved the size and portion of this desert offering; I got to have a little of everything, as opposed to other airlines which require you to choose one of the offerings in significantly larger portions. Tiago suggested some port which was a perfect finale to the meal.
At the end of service, we got to casually chatting about my trip and the like. Upon telling him it was my first time in Portugal, he beamed with excitement and offered some recommendations of things to do in Lisbon. He even told me about a cool brewery in the neighborhood I was staying in Barrio Alito, owned by his cousin. He told me to introduce myself as a friend of his and they’d take really good care of us. I thought this was such a kind gesture! He also gave some recommendations for things to do, including an interesting go kart tour. We also chatted a bit about the craft brewery scene in Portugal, given I’m from New York, an undisputed powerhouse.
After desert and chatting some more with Tiago, I finished up Argo and got ready for bed. At this point, we were nearly two and a half hours into the flight, just off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada. The bed was quite cozy, and as I mentioned, I was particularly happy with the footwell space. Often, I find it difficult to sleep in some business products when the footwell is particularly narrow, restricting movement. However, I was quite satisfied with the bed in both size and comfort. The armrest could also be distended to provide additional sleeping with.
In regards to the bathroom, it was somewhat unremarkable. It was kept relatively clean throughout the flight, and had some unique mood lighting underneath the mirror. However, it was quite small and the only bathroom amentities offered were pre-packaged moist toilettes. It is just an airplane bathroom, after all.
I managed to sleep nearly three hours, and by the time I woke up, we were an hour and a half from Lisbon. I used TAP’s free messaging WiFi service to chat with my friend, who opted to stick in coach. While I don’t have details of the WiFi, I found the prices quite reasonable (significantly cheaper than my return flight in United Polaris), and TAP offered free inflight data connectivity for customers of specified Portuguese telecom carriers.
An hour before landing, a light breakfast was served. To be quite honest, while I thought the dinner service was great, I was a bit disappointed by the breakfast offering. However, to be fair, I personally have never been a fan of the classic European breakfast of cold cuts. I wish TAP had multiple offerings for breakfast, although I recognize that as less common among business carriers (based off my experience in Lufthansa’s business class). The croissant offered was great, though.
At the end of breakfast service, with coincided with the crew’s preparation for landing, Tiago collected my tray and returned with the recommendations he provided earlier. He went so far as to tear off part of a US CBP declaration form and write both his recommendations and his name, for reference to the brewery we discussed. This is where I was truly impressed with the service. The fact that he remembered our conversation five hours earlier and followed up made all the difference, showing he truly cared about helping me enjoy my first visit to Lisbon.
Both he and the lead flight attendant thanked me for flying TAP and wished me well in my travels. While I had an unremarkable experience with TAP the last time I flew with them, on a connecting flight from Lisbon to Marrakesh, I felt the service was fantastic on this flight. Truly a great introduction to Portuguese culture and the warm people. We touched down over half an hour early at 11:30am in Lisbon.
All in all, I was beyond impressed with my flight on TAP. Given how cheap this business ticket was (again, only ~$560!), my expectations for the flight were somewhat low. However, between the solid food offering, warm and memorable service, and strong hard product with direct aisle access, all on a brand new aircraft with the fittings to match, proved this flight to be a STEAL. I can not think of better value in the premium transatlantic market. I highly recommend you take advantage of the business auction process, if competition is moderate among other passengers and you have the budgetary flexibility. Great job, TAP Portugal!